Aligning Research, Saving Lives

02/05/2014

Tom Insel, Director of National Institute of Mental Health

Can we prioritize research in order to lower the number of deaths by suicide?

For the first time a national action plan, A Prioritized Research Agenda for Suicide Prevention, is focused on the field of suicide research. A research task force of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention co-led by AFSP’s national board member Philip Satow, chairman of the board of The Jed Foundation and Thomas Insel, MD, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, has released an agenda designed to elicit the best approaches to reducing suicide attempts and deaths.

AFSP CEO, Robert Gebbia, who served as a research task force member said, “We are pleased to have played a major role in bringing about this research agenda which will guide the nation’s investment in suicide research in the years ahead. We hope these priorities will also generate new public and private funds for suicide research and ultimately lead to a dramatic reduction in suicide deaths.”